Year of the Dog (B)
from the April 16, 2007 Philadelphia Weekly
Mike White has a knack for custom-writing characters for his lead actors. The School of Rock needed Jack Black’s mania; The Good Girl needed Jennifer Aniston’s apathy. White’s latest film, Year of the Dog, is built on Molly Shannon’s vulnerability. And as his prior films did for Black and Aniston, Year of the Dog succeeds in validating Shannon as an actor capable of carrying this quirky, character-driven film.
As White describes it, Year of the Dog is a film about “an adult relationship with a pet,” and as one would expect, it delivers its share of cute animal moments and butt sniffing. But that’s where the Beethoven comparisons end. The film starts on Peggy Spade (Shannon) enjoying a private life that revolves around her small dog, Pencil. But Pencil wanders off one night, and Peggy seeks support in her human relationships, an area where she has found life-long disappointment. In this very human search, this film finds its center.
Audiences looking for a riotous, Mary Catherine Gallagher experience may feel somewhat let down. Although laugh lines haven’t completely deserted this film, character comes first—the fun is mostly found in the way that human characters communicate with Peggy through the fog of their own obsessions. Rather than playing for laughs, here Shannon dials-down the Saturday Night Live histrionics and lets her supporting cast find the funny.
White makes his directorial debut in the film and does an adequate job of amplifying his unique style of writing, somewhat like Wes Anderson does for his own films, although White seems to run out of visual ideas by the end of the first act. This lack of progression obstructs Peggy’s emotional journey, but White finds directorial salvation in his actors’ performances, especially Peter Sarsgaard, who as a vegan dog trainer, all at once manages to evoke catharsis, hilarity and embarrassment.
It is in this balance of honesty and absurdity that the film ultimately satisfies its promise for anyone daring enough to go see a romantic comedy about a woman and a dog.